Fidel the fascist.(Fidel Castro)

AS of this writing Fidel Castro is either alive or dead, but his status is in limbo. Nonetheless, this is as propitious a moment as any to recognize Castro for what he truly is or was: the last fascist dictator.

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This might seem an odd eulogy for a man so famously associated with Communism, and so notoriously affiliated with the Evil Empire. After all, this magazine, in its early years, invested a great deal of time and energy to make it clear--when so many others would not--that Cuba was Moscow's flagship franchise in the Western Hemisphere. And, besides, doesn't the slightest tug at the string attached to the Castro doll result in a two-hour stem-winder on the evils of fascism?

Yes, yes, Castro was Moscow's marionette. And of course he prattles on about American fascism more than an English professor at Columbia. But that's irrelevant. Anyone who studies fascism quickly realizes that fascism the word is not always attached to fascism the thing.

Think about it. What characteristics does a fascist dictator possess? Well, he wears a military uniform all the time. Check. He thrives on a cult of personality. Check. He uses populist rhetoric to cast himself as the voice and conscience of "the people." Check. He relies on nationalistic sentiment to sustain his regime. Check. He gives very long self-indulgent speeches from balconies to undifferentiated throngs of allegedly worshipful subjects. Check. He might even have iconic facial hair. Check.

Okay, the last one isn't really an indicator of fascism. But, oddly enough, what supposedly makes Castro a hero of antifascists qualifies him as one himself. Castro rails about how Cuba is a "proletariat nation" standing up to imperialist powers, i.e., America. Well, it was Benito Mussolini--merging Marxist doctrines of class struggle with nationalism--who ...